China: Weekly coal and coke market highlights

China's domestic coke market saw limited activity this week amid a lackluster steel market, thin margins and high raw material costs.

CoalMint assessed the latest price for domestic met coke with 12.5% ash in North China at CNY 2,120/t ($331.46/t), down CNY 100/t ($16.7/t) on the week.

China domestic coke outlook bearish, prices expected to continue weakening�"

In China, the eighth round of price cut by CNY 100/t materialized earlier this week on March 30 in major coke producing areas in Hebei and Shandong region, bringing the total price cuts to CNY 800/t since the beginning of February.

But even though domestic coke prices continue to fall, there has been more export activity for China’s metallurgical coke recently amid the continuous falling domestic coke prices. New buying interest for Chinese metallurgical coke from Japan and Southeast Asia increased due to the high cost-efficiency of China’s coke.

Steel mills, however, are still showing active interest in procuring coke supplies considering the hassles of interrupted logistics in Hebei province amid Covid concerns, and the possible snowy weather prevailing thereafter, boosting optimism amongst coke enterprises.

Meanwhile, United States and Canadian spot coking coal prices could remain strong during the first half of 2021 as trade tensions between China and Australia continue, boosting those origins, while Australian shippers seek customers in Europe and Latin America.

Market participants are presently unclear if prices would continue to move down as coke plants have resisted anymore price cuts. This may lead to an impasse and prices may eventually stabilize.